Grand Blanc, Michigan
Near Flint, Michigan
The French got here first. Before any American settler touched what is now Genesee County, French fur traders were working through this part of southern Michigan and leaving a name behind. Grand Blanc means Great White in French, most likely a reference to the striking white sand deposits along the local streams.
American pioneer families began settling the fertile farmland in the early eighteen twenties, and by eighteen thirty-three, Grand Blanc Township was formally organized, becoming the first unit of local government in all of Genesee County. That distinction still holds today. The city now sits just south of Flint and counts itself among the more prosperous communities in a region better known for harder times.
